The Platinum Ticket by David Beynon

Friday, 24 July 2009

Tomorrow the Beynon family heads north. Several times a year we make the trip to the north shore of Lake Huron to visit with the in-law side of my family. Sometimes we camp - sometimes not. Given the colder and wetter than usual conditions so far this year any camping will be done in a trailer already set up at a campground.

The weather forecast is ambivalent but I look forward to daily swims in Lake Huron (cold, yet refreshing), a little golf and a lot of fishing. I discovered a few years ago that Northern Ontario fishermen are a little snobbish when it comes to their fishing. Pike, muskie, pickerel (walleye) and trout appear to be the fish of choice. I was surprised to discover that bass are largely overlooked as a game fish.

My brother-in-law and I went out in his little tin boat - that's the boat up there at the top of the page - up the river that runs right by his front lawn. Over the course of a leisurely two hours we caught dozens of bass and even kept a few to eat. One of the reasons why bass might be over looked as a catch and eat fish might be the parasitic worms they get. The ones we ate after that initial run up the river did indeed have worms, but not many. Some folks painstakingly pull the worms, writhing, from the meat with tweezers. I'm not that patient. The worms cook up just fine in the frying pan. Can't even taste 'em.

Anyway - with the cooler weather this year the parasites should be at a minimum and we're all looking forward to a couple of bass and egg breakfasts.

We are bringing the lovely Willow on the trip and, to make the trip more comfortable, we've decided to rent a larger vehicle for the journey. We had reserved a Ford Flex (a really ugly car from the outside, but surprisingly spacious inside) but, I was informed yesterday, may end up with some sort of Lincoln SUV. As long as it is more spacious than the Impala we should have a decent trip.

A relaxing trip with the whole family - just what the doctor ordered. I may even get some writing done while lounging on the beach.

Monday, 20 July 2009

Forty years ago today human beings first set foot on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the lucky two who got to prance around in 1/6 gravity while Michael Collins had to play taxi driver to give them a ride home.

This is Buzz's footprint.

I was two years old when this happened and I still have a vague recollection of being herded into our neighbour's house (we didn't have a TV) to watch this curiously blue black and white image. I didn't know it at the time but my parents were showing me history.

For the longest time my parents held onto the Toronto Star that featured the photo above. Sadly, I have no idea where that paper might be now. It was a time of high adventure and endless possibilities. Let's face it - they made it to the friggin' moon with less computing power than you find in your average TV remote control.

Over the next three years there were five more moon landings with a total of twelve men setting foot on our closest celestial neighbour.

And then, in 1972, we stopped.

I guess we didn't stop completely. We shifted focus. A reusable spacecraft became a priority and sure it was cool, but it wasn't pushing the limits. It wasn't a trip to Mars.

We also decided that space travel should suddenly become safe, somehow. You need to harness a set of hellish rockets - little more than directed chemical bombs, really, to escape the pull of gravity and this is somehow expected to be safe?

Space travel is not supposed to be safe. It is supposed to be risky. All pioneering efforts have always been risky. Without risk, there is no pay-off. Crossing the Atlantic, by ship or by airplane is now routine - but not always. The same holds true for space travel.

I heard a commentator speaking about a future Mars mission and she said that one of the most difficult things will be the cramped quarters for the journey. I thought to myself - why? Why cramped? We have an international space station up there already - why not haul up a set of rockets and adapt that thing for the journey? All that hardware is already up there and it's not like you need to worry about aerodynamics in the vacuum of space.

Anyway - I am encouraged. Last night Buzz Aldrin - 2nd man on the moon - spoke out about a future mission to mars. He plans to encourage President Obama to once more push the limits and focus on the establishment of a colony on Mars.